


growing up stark

by fluffywonder



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-04 20:25:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18820072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fluffywonder/pseuds/fluffywonder
Summary: Morgan Stark’s journey to adulthood.





	growing up stark

**Author's Note:**

> Morgan Stark grows up.

Pepper tries and  _tries_ , Morgan can see it, but she is not genetically half Tony Stark’s for nothing. Her mom is  _empty_ , Morgan has known it since she was five and her daddy was no longer there to read her a bedtime story. Her mom goes through the motions, Morgan knows, but her hair is dull and lacks shine, the same way she no longer has that sparkling personality her dad used to playfully complain about. Her mom -Pepper- used to be fire and blood and everything regal, before the Civil War, before Iron Man, before space, before New York— before, before,  _before_.

Pepper cries. She thinks Morgan can’t hear it, when her mom is breaking apart, but she does. Not for the first time, she thinks her dad would know how to fix her mom if he were here. He fixed things, according to Harley. That’s what he did — he fixed everyone and everything but himself, because he was just  _gone_. Lost among the darkest recesses of space he once feared and languished in. 

 

——

 

Peter _—_ _her brother—_ he always has a hug and a kiss for her when he comes to visit. She pretends not to notice that his Physics homework worksheets are always a little wet with splotchy tears, filled in with the shakiest handwriting. She turns her head away as he cries when he receives his acceptance to MIT, and when Harley hugs him fiercely after helping him move in. 

 

——

 

She closes her eyes and prays when Harley comes over, and there’s the sound of a heavy wrench being thrown, followed by frustrated screaming because the suit won’t work right because Harley, as smart as he is,  _is not Tony._ She has to clench her fists to stop herself from going to him when she hears Harley’s sobs and DUM-E and U and Butterfingers’ anxious chirps, all rising above the AC/DC ringing through the workshop.

 

——

 

Mr. Clint is nice, she thinks, but she knows he hadn’t always been good to her daddy.

_“My daddy went away for a while too,”_ Lila Barton says, matter of factly. Morgan cannot help but look up to the older girl in awe and admiration, and doesn’t notice Mrs. Barton or her mom looking at them in sadness. She does not comprehend that Clint’s disappearance had been of his own choice.

 _“Does it get better?”_ Lila’s surprised that Morgan isn’t asking if they ever come back. She’s the smartest six year old she’s ever seen.

Lila’s silent a long time before answering. 

_“I’ll let you know if I ever figure it out.”_

Later, Mr. Clint tells her he’s sorry. When she asks why, he only gives her a pained smile. It’s nearly a decade before she figures out he’s probably guilty to have survived when her father didn’t.

(And maybe he misses someone too.)

 

——

 

Uncle Happy brings cheeseburgers everytime he visits. He tells her they were her dad’s favorite.

When she turns seven, she asks if they can put a lit candle in a cheeseburger, instead of having cake.

Her mom says Tony would have laughed in the best way at the idea, and that’s all Morgan needs to beg Happy to bring cheeseburgers.

 

——

 

She’s eight when she meets Cassie Lang for the first time.

It’s funny, she thinks, how none of these people had been nice to her daddy when they had the chance. She can’t help the glare that she levels at Mr. Lang, then, and she’s gratified when she sees Hope Van Dyne blatantly ignore Scott Lang’s discomfort. She’s even more pleased when she hears a watery chuckle come from her mom.

 

——

 

_“You will be brilliant, my child. You will be your own person, much like your father, but not him.”_

Morgan blinks. She knows who this is — this is Queen Shuri, who had kept hold of the mantle even after T’Challa had been unsnapped. Queen Shuri was strong, someone Morgan desperately wanted to emulate. She was confused though.

“My own person?”

“Your father was great, but you are your own. You will honor and respect him, while making sound decisions.”

She doesn’t think she’s imagining the assessing glare Shuri shoots in her brother’s direction. She doesn’t think she’s imagining T’Challa’s wince either.

 

——

 

She’s thirteen and gangly with brand new veneers when Uncle Rhodey tells her about boys.

“Your dad wanted to do this, you know. Have this talk with you.”

“He’s not here.” She’s having one of her  _days_ , and her words come out way more sour than she’d meant.

“He was a playboy. Before he settled down with your mom, I saw him charm the pants off of anyone he could. Your mom was the best thing to happen to him.”

She sniffs, impatiently batting away the tear trying to scroll down her cheek. “She’s too good for him.”

(A moment later, she  _hurts_ over that sentence, because  _he’s_ the one who’s dead, and isn’t there something about not speaking ill of the dead?)

Rhodey’s smile is impossibly gentle and sad. “She always was.”

He pauses before continuing. “Be with the person that treats you like you’re the queen of the world. Tony found his queen in Pepper. You need to find your king — even if they look like a douche at first. That’s what Tony would want me to say.”

He doesn’t say a word when sobs rip free of her throat - he just hugs her for all he’s worth.

 

——

 

_“I’m sorry I left.”_

“My dad said you needed to find yourself. Whatever that means,” Morgan shrugs. She’s only fifteen, and she won’t pretend to understand the intricacies of her dad’s friendships.

“He was— he was a friend. One of the only people who wasn’t scared of me.”

“I know. You helped him with Ultron, right?”

He swallows. “He was the best person I ever knew, with the biggest heart.”

“That’s what the arc reactor said!  _“Proof that Tony Stark has a heart.”_ Mom said he had too much of a heart, even long before she met him. Some days, I don’t get that.”

The smile on Professor Hulk’s face is oddly twisted and bitter as he scoops Morgan Stark up into a hug, much as he had once done to her father.

 

——

 

“He’d want you to have the suit, you know.” 

She eyes Harley. “Mom would rather I leave it untouched.”

“So she says.”

Morgan’s curious now.

“She didn’t like what the suit represented, in the beginning. But she wound up with her own. The Rescue armor.”

Morgan swallows thickly.

“He made you one, Morg, and asked me to maintain it until the time came. You’re my sister. His daughter. He always wanted you protected.  _Always._  And you’re more than the suit, of course you are, but, this world— this universe—“

Tears are beginning to fill Morgan’s eyes.

In the end, all he says is “You’re eighteen now. This is your legacy, if you want it.”

_“God— yes— “_

 

——

 

Morgan stands as the armor envelops her piece by piece, letting her mom, Harley, and Peter watch. The armor is femininely-shaped, to acknowledge its pilot, but it hasn’t lost its hard, intimidating edges. She closes her eyes as the visor closes and the HUD flashes once, twice.

_“Hey, baby girl. If you’re watching this, it means that Earth is short its best defender — and by that, I mean you. You are the best thing I ever had or did, and I am so sorry I didn’t get to see you grow up and become the amazing person I know you are. Take care of your mom and brothers for me. You are the best of me. Remember, it’s not the armor that counts — it’s who’s in it. Love you 3000._

_—Dad”_

The speakers had broadcast the message, and Pepper can’t stop the sob that erupts from her, and she clings to Peter fiercely when he hugs her.

This is her life, and these kids are the best parts of her  and  Tony. And she loves them more than they will ever know, she acknowledges, as she watches Morgan take off in the suit that has been painted red and gold in tribute. 

 

_fin_

**Author's Note:**

> Love you 3000.


End file.
